Sucked into iPhone hell - 3 phones later

[ergoadams]

I hope someone can help.

Activated phone at the end of July.
From the start, I would get erratic behaviour, including signal going away and the infamous "repair needed" message. Eventually, it completely locked up, including iPod functionality; restore did not make a difference.

Drove 100 miles to Apple store. They replaced the phone.

After several days, the phone started to act up again, same symptoms. Sometimes I could do a hard reset after the phone reverted to "no signal" and the problem seemed to resolve. Then it would randomly show up with no signal and the "repair needed" message.

Drove 100 miles to Apple store. They replaced the phone. I naturally asked: "Have you geniuses ever seen this happen on two phones in a row?" Of course they said no. At the same time, they made no attempt to isolate the problem. They replaced the phone. They said, must be one of my PCs corrupting the firmware. I said, I will just use it for a few days without syncing it to see if I get any errors. Sure enough, the next day, I got the "repair needed" message. Talked to iPhone support. They agreed that it must be a bad SIMM card. So after much hassle with AT&T, I received a new card. I activated and synced the phone (after going through hell with AT&T). Now I am getting the same @!%#@@ message again.

Please help! Somebody wake me up from this iPhone nightmare. What else could it be????

[abohsali]

Having the same problem with three phones on a row is 3 out of 3 probability wise and it is very unlikely. I would say that the problem is not a defect in the iPhone. It might be environmental. Where do you store your phone? Do you keep in the sun for long periods of time? Do you expose it to strong magnet? You should ask yourself those questions. Let us know.

Sorry for your pain!

-Bohs

Originally Posted by ergoadams

I hope someone can help.

Activated phone at the end of July.
From the start, I would get erratic behaviour, including signal going away and the infamous "repair needed" message. Eventually, it completely locked up, including iPod functionality; restore did not make a difference.

Drove 100 miles to Apple store. They replaced the phone.

After several days, the phone started to act up again, same symptoms. Sometimes I could do a hard reset after the phone reverted to "no signal" and the problem seemed to resolve. Then it would randomly show up with no signal and the "repair needed" message.

Drove 100 miles to Apple store. They replaced the phone. I naturally asked: "Have you geniuses ever seen this happen on two phones in a row?" Of course they said no. At the same time, they made no attempt to isolate the problem. They replaced the phone. They said, must be one of my PCs corrupting the firmware. I said, I will just use it for a few days without syncing it to see if I get any errors. Sure enough, the next day, I got the "repair needed" message. Talked to iPhone support. They agreed that it must be a bad SIMM card. So after much hassle with AT&T, I received a new card. I activated and synced the phone (after going through hell with AT&T). Now I am getting the same @!%#@@ message again.

Please help! Somebody wake me up from this iPhone nightmare. What else could it be????

[ergoadams]

I am very protective with the iPhone and keep it out of all environmental extremes.

However ...

I have a case with a magnetic closure. Could that be the problem?

I cannot believe the solution would be that simple. It is hard to believe that the Apple geniuses are not trained to rule out problems such as that. It seems to be easier to keep replacing phones.

If that is the case (no pun intended) would the SIMM card likely be affected? Or would the problem be temporary in that if I keep it away from the case, the problem may resolve in its own.

I will keep it out of the case tomorrow and see what happens.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by abohsali

Having the same problem with three phones on a row is 3 out of 3 probability wise and it is very unlikely. I would say that the problem is not a defect in the iPhone. It might be environmental. Where do you store your phone? Do you keep in the sun for long periods of time? Do you expose it to strong magnet? You should ask yourself those questions. Let us know.

Sorry for your pain!

-Bohs

[abohsali]

I would bet on the case if it has a strong magnet. I heard of stories of magnetic closure cases messing up smartphones (not iPhones so far). Try to use it without the case for a day or two like you said and see what happens. If the problem does not fix itself I would say go back to the Apple store, get a replacement and use it without that case from now on.
The geniuses at the Apple stores are easily replacing phones with any (I mean any) problem without even looking into what's causing it providing that it's within the 14 days return period. If they can't fix the problem with the iPhone in the store they will just replace with a new one. I believe they are trying to provide great customer support with the iPhone (for the time being at least).

Let us know what happens. G. Luck.

-Bohs

[iphoneluverr]

a strong magnet case destroyed my slvr... thats probably it..

[dagoo98]

Definitely the case that's causing it!!!!!!

[ergoadams]

Originally Posted by dagoo98

Definitely the case that's causing it!!!!!!

I kept the phone away from the case today and it worked perfectly!

Brilliant! The power of the net.

Back in iPhone heaven.

I guess my analytical powers are diminished. Should have isolated the case as another common demoninator.

BTW, what is a recommendation for a good carry on the belt iPhone case?

[abohsali]

Great.

I use the Incase black leater case. It works great for me and it looks good too. It protects the phone well except for the top corners which are exposed.

-Bohs